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Sprint Nextel settles Minn. lawsuit over contracts

Minnesota customers of Sprint Nextel
Corp. who think their cell phone contracts were extended without
their say-so can file for refunds of early termination fees, under a
legal settlement announced Monday.

State Attorney General Lori Swanson said her office will accept
claims through March 15. Swanson spokesman Ben Wogsland said about
400,000 Minnesota customers who signed contracts with Sprint Nextel
since Sept. 26, 2001 are potentially eligible.

The agreement ends a two-year-old consumer protection lawsuit
that started with Swanson seeking restitution and civil penalties
of up to $25,000 per incident.

She settled for an agreement with
the cell phone giant to review claims of improper cancellation
penalties and reverse or refunds some of the fees.

Sprint spokesman Matt Sullivan declined to estimate how many
customers might get refunds.

"If there's no indication that the customer consented and the
contract was extended, then a refund will be provided," Sullivan
said. "If there's evidence in the history that the customer did
provide consent, then the early termination fee will stand."

Sullivan said Sprint Nextel settled the lawsuit without
admitting any wrongdoing. He said the Overland Park, Kan.-based
company has always disclosed its fees.

Swanson sued Sprint Nextel in September 2007, alleging that the
company made a practice of extending customers' contracts without
their informed consent when they made small changes, such as
adjusting minutes or adding a family member.

She said Sprint
charged fees of as much as $200 per line if the consumer later
canceled an extended contract they thought had already expired.

Swanson's office said at least 439,000 Minnesota residents were
asked to pay cancellation penalties between July 1999 and December
2008.

She said another 450,000 Minnesotans get their wireless phone
service from Sprint under contracts with early termination fees,
making them eligible to file claims if their contracts were
extended without their permission.

One of the former Sprint customers hoping for a refund is Kate
Zittlow Rogness, 34, of Minneapolis. She and her husband were
charged $400 to cancel their Sprint contract for two phone lines in
2007 after they thought they had passed the penalty period.

She
said Sprint told her she had extended her contract when she called
months earlier to get a 5 percent discount.

"I never agreed to that, nor was informed about it," she said.

Zittlow Rogness said they paid the penalty to leave Sprint and
don't plan to go back.